Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Dahlia variabilis cultivar Balnovburs.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Dahlia plant, botanically known as Dahlia variabilis, commercially referred to as a pot-type Dahlia, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name xe2x80x98Balnovbursxe2x80x99.
The new Dahlia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands. The new Dahlia originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in 1997 of two unidentified proprietary selections of Dahlia variabilis, not patented. The cultivar Balnovburs was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands in October, 1997.
Asexual reproduction of the new Dahlia by stem cuttings was first conducted in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands in 1999. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Dahlia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Balnovburs has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and daylength, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Balnovbursxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Balnovbursxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct pot-type Dahlia: 
1. Upright plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit.
3. Semi-double type inflorescences.
4. Yellow and red-colored ray florets.
Plants of the new Dahlia differ from plants of the parent selections primarily in ray floret coloration as plants of the parent selections do not have yellow and red-colored ray florets.
Plants of the new Dahlia can be compared to plants of the Dahlia cultivar Balnovches, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,254. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in West Chicago, Ill., plants of the new Dahlia were larger, more vigorous and had fewer ray florets per inflorescence than plants of the cultivar Balnovches. In addition, plants of the new Dahlia and the cultivar Balnovches differed in ray floret coloration.